Camelina alyssum (Mill.) Thell. is a wild relative of false flax, C. sativa (L.) Crantz. Two subspecies are native to Europe: C. alyssum (Mill.) Thell. ssp. alyssum and C. alyssum ssp. integerrima (Čelak.) Smejkal.

European regional assessment: Data Deficient (DD)
EU 27 regional assessment: Data Deficient (DD)

Camelina alyssum has gone extinct in several European countries and is known to be very rare in others. Its status in the wild is not clear—it has been reported that that it may only survive in cultivation in some localities. Further data are needed from the range of this species in order to assess its threat status; therefore, it is currently regionally assessed as Data Deficient.

C. alyssum is native to Europe (USDA, ARS, National Genetic Resources Program 2010), as well as to much of Russia (Euro+Med PlantBase 2006). USDA, ARS, National Genetic Resources Program (2010) records the species as "widespread"; however, the status of this species in the wild is uncertain and it is thought that it may only survive in cultivation in some localities, but that even in cultivation it is not common (Museum National d’Histoire Naturelle/European Topic Centre on Biological Diversity and Conservatoire Botanique National de Brest 2006).

Knowledge of the national distribution of this species in Europe is as follows:

• Hungary: Great Hungarian Plain (Tiszántúl region: Mezőtúr) (Soó 1966, Simon 1992).
• France: sporadic distribution, occurring in the departments of Somme and Oise to the north, Aube and Bas-Rhin to the northeast, Haute-Savoie in the east, Bouches-du-Rhône and Pyrénées Orientales in the south, Pyrénées-Atlantiques in the southwest, the central departments of Puy-de-Dôme, Cantal and Aveyron and the western departments of Côtes d'Armor, Ille-et-Vilaine and Loire-Atlantique (Association Tela Botanica 2000–2010).
  

Both ssp. alyssum and ssp. integerrima are extinct in the Czech Republic and Slovakia (Eliáš Jr. 2002). The species is also extinct in Germany and Austria—probably since the 1950s (Bundesamt für Naturschutz 2010).

This species is  very rare in Hungary (Soó 1966, Simon 1992), as well as in Belarus. It is not endangered in Bulgaria (K. Uzundzhalieva pers. comm. 2010). It is extinct in Albania, Austria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Moldova and Slovakia.

This annual species is a specific weed of flax and linseed fields; therefore, it is dependent on the continued cultivation of these crops.

It is threatened by changes in agricultural practices—new methods have almost eliminated the associated weed flora (e.g., Cuscuta epilinum, Lolium remotum and Silene linicola) (Museum National d’Histoire Naturelle/European Topic Centre on Biological Diversity and Conservatoire Botanique National de Brest 2006). The use of pesticides and herbicides and changes in land use has led to the extinctions in middle Europe. The seeds have a similar shape to flax seeds and the species was distributed with flax sowing, but changes in seed cleaning methods now stop C. alyssum seeds from spreading.

A wild relative of and potential gene donor to the oilseed and fodder crop, false flax, C. sativa.

The genus Camelina is listed in Annex I of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture as part of the brassica complex.

C. alyssum was recorded as Critically Endangered in Europe by the Museum National d’Histoire Naturelle/European Topic Centre on Biological Diversity and Conservatoire Botanique National de Brest (2006); however, no Red List criteria are provided for this assessment.

EURISCO reports nine germplasm accessions of C. alyssum held in European genebanks, four of which are reported to be of wild or weedy origin; however, none originate from within Europe (EURISCO Catalogue 2010). Collection and duplicated ex situ storage of germplasm from the remaining European subpopulations is an urgent priority for this species.

In Hungary, this species is listed as Extinct in the Wild (EW) (Király 2007). In Slovakia, C. alyssum is listed as Extinct (EX) ( Eliáš et al. 2007).